North-East needs good infrastructure

North-eastern India still suffers from the lahe lahe (go slow) syndrome. Fraught with insurgency, the region has become a laggard in attracting investments and is slowly getting alienated from the rest of the country. Jairam Ramesh, argues that the region can’t afford to wait till the problem of insurgency is suitably addressed. Excerpts:

The North-East has continuously failed to woo any major investment. How long will insurgency be blamed for it?

It’s not insurgency alone that is responsible for it. There are such problems, say in Andhra Pradesh too. I feel the lahe lahe (go slow) attitude of the people of the region is more deadly. I feel, we need some innovative solutions to the problems in the region.

Why can’t we have a North-East Infrastructure Development Corporation, like the Konkan Railway Corporation, that will take up and complete infrastructure projects? Also, there are suggestions that a separate North-east Export Promotion Council should be set up. I have agreed to have this suggestion examined quickly. Similarly, several states in the North-East wanted changes in the freight subsidy scheme for the export of horticulture products — the existing scheme is only for raw materials and does not encourage any value-addition in the region. We are currently examining that.

Has the government taken up any initiative to bring in potential investors to the region?

The North-East industrial policy is already in place and will be renewed after March, 2007. We are examining what more incentives can be given to make the policy more attractive. North-eastern states are demanding for something extra to the industrial policy, keeping in view the special problems of these eight states even vis-à-vis Uttaranchal and Himachal. Also, IT minister Dayanidhi Maran and I will visit Guwahati shortly to see how best we can have some investments in the IT sector. I plan to take the CEO of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) S Ramadorai to Guwahati and Shillong for the purpose.

What are the government’s focus areas to enhance economic activity in the region?

The Rubber Board has taken up some major initiatives to intensify rubber cultivation in Assam and Tripura. We have also given thrust to intensify cultivation of organic spices in all the North-Eastern states and have extended assistance for promoting floriculture exports from states like Sikkim and Meghalaya. I had taken senior officials from the ministry of commerce with me and a number of infrastructure projects linked to exports were approved on the spot.

What the region needs today is infrastructure-led industrialisation, not just incentive-driven industrialisation. Mega infrastructure projects to improve connectivity to and in the North-East need to be taken up by the Centre in a mission mode. I am in touch with deputy chairman, Planning Commission and the North-East ministry in this regard.

Some states in the region feel that they are losing out because they are peaceful?

Yes, there is an all-pervasive feeling in Mizoram that it has not seen a “peace bonus”. Power supply in the state is very erratic. Internet connectivity is abysmal. The feeling is that since Mizoram is relatively peaceful, the Centre does not announce development “packages” that will benefit the state. Our government will take up social and physical infrastructure in the state.

But the state of affairs in insurgency-inflicted states like Manipur and Assam is even worse?

Manipur is a society that is imploding from within. It is visibly not normal. In fact, there is a thin veneer of normalcy but basically it is a state where insurgents, militants and extortionists — perhaps all told 7,000-8,000 in number — take over from dusk to dawn. There is also rampant unemployment — you will see rickshawallahs in Imphal with handkerchiefs around most of their faces, and this is to hide their identity since most of them are graduates. There have been some initiatives to improve the situation. A software technology park has come up but the IT potential has not developed mainly because of the precarious law and order situation.